2017-18 Bracketology

[Roz]

Uri has been an 8 before

[rhodylaw]

At this point, whatever we get we get. Let’s get our mojo back and kick everyone’s ass!!!

[Rhodymob05]

At this point, whatever we get we get. Let’s get our mojo back and kick everyone’s ass!!!

This

[reef]

We are definitely a lock to get in give us an 8 seed with Xavier the 1

[theblueram]

Just win the A10 Tournament and all will be good.

[Seawrightspostgame]

Yea, now we get to watch these guys compete in two tournaments. That will be fun.

I would like an eastern seed. Winning the A10 tournament would be really exciting.

[Rhodymob05]

One week everyone, one week until selection Sunday.

[UCH21377]

I think you really need to step back and back at the season as a whole. Winning the A10 regular season outright at 15-3 should get us in, period. However, looking back at our OOC, it did not turn out as well as expected. Seton Hall is borderline, PC probably in but nothing special, Alabama falling apart, UNC Asheville out. FGCU tbd. Not sure what became of Charleston. Obviously VA boosts things even with loss. Nevada lost again too. So all in all maybe not as good an OOC as thought earlier. Right now the Bonnies resume is as good as ours and that actually helps. I can see us as low as an 11 now depending on the A10 tourney performance.

[Roz]

I have been called an optimist here, but watch us win the tourney. All we need is someone other than Langevine and Terrell to step up. I vote for Robinson. If he is hitting his shots all is well.

[woodennickel1]

If Jerry Palm's bracket were true you guys would get your wish he has you as a seven playing Oklahoma as a ten.

[RF1]

I ran the RPI Wizard for the the hopefully unmet scenario that URI loses to VCU or Dayton. Its RPI would drop to #20 if it were to get beat by either team on a neutral court. This of course does not factor in all other results of games so it is subject to slight change. The selection committee would be hard pressed to keep out a team with a record of 23-7 and an RPI of #20 - especially a team that won its league's regular season title this season, was ranked for six weeks late in the season and was an NCAA participant that made the second round the previous year.

[ace]

Jeff Goodman is evil.

[RhowdyRam02]

The latest from bracketville, which came out this morning:

https://bracketville.wordpress.com/bracketology/

We're an 8 seed in Pittsburgh taking on Florida State

St. Bonaventure is a 9

Virginia is the overall number 1 seed
Seton Hall is a 7
Nevada is an 8
Providence is a 10
Charleston is a 14
Florida Gulf Coast is a 15

Alabama is the last team in and has a play in game to be a 12 seed

[Rhodymob05]

The latest from bracketville, which came out this morning:

https://bracketville.wordpress.com/bracketology/

We're an 8 seed in Pittsburgh taking on Florida State

St. Bonaventure is a 9

Virginia is the overall number 1 seed
Seton Hall is a 7
Nevada is an 8
Providence is a 10
Charleston is a 14
Florida Gulf Coast is a 15

Alabama is the last team in and has a play in game to be a 12 seed

This sounds extremely accurate.

[adam914]

The latest from bracketville, which came out this morning:

https://bracketville.wordpress.com/bracketology/

We're an 8 seed in Pittsburgh taking on Florida State

St. Bonaventure is a 9

Virginia is the overall number 1 seed
Seton Hall is a 7
Nevada is an 8
Providence is a 10
Charleston is a 14
Florida Gulf Coast is a 15

Alabama is the last team in and has a play in game to be a 12 seed

Yeah I think this seems about right as of now. Win the A10 tourney, especially by beating the Bonnies, and I think we can still jump to a 6. But 8 right now seems fair.

[TruePoint]

I don't mind this scenario as much because we'd get Villanova in the second round. We could beat Villanova (assuming we are playing like we have at our best this year and not how we've played the last week). Virginia, Michigan State and Duke concern me more than Villanova and Xavier. I'd rather be an 8 getting one of the Big East teams than a 7 playing one of those other teams. Especially if I could get to Boston for the second weekend if I did spring the upset in the second round.

[reef]

Any teams that have a couple good bigs like Duke would give us fits

I wouldn't mind a Nova or Xavier teams with good guard play we match up well

Imagine Berry trying to guard Bagley from Duke at the start of a game ??

[URI'21]

Any teams that have a couple good bigs like Duke would give us fits

I wouldn't mind a Nova or Xavier teams with good guard play we match up well

Imagine Berry trying to guard Bagley from Duke at the start of a game ??

Agreed. Duke would be the toughest team for us to beat IMO. Bagley would be like BJ Johnson all over again, but 10x worse.

[Rhody15]

I don’t know how we can talk about beating Villanova and all these teams when we just lost at home by 30 to a below average St Joes team.

[TruePoint]

I don’t know how we can talk about beating Villanova and all these teams when we just lost at home by 30 to a below average St Joes team.

You’re right. We should just cancel the rest of the season on the assumption that we will repeat our worst possible performance over and over again. Good point.

[Rhody15]

I don’t know how we can talk about beating Villanova and all these teams when we just lost at home by 30 to a below average St Joes team.

You’re right. We should just cancel the rest of the season on the assumption that we will repeat our worst possible performance over and over again. Good point.

Since the St Bonnie’s loss, we have played exactly one good half of basketball.

How you can just assume we’re going to go back to playing how we played during our winning streak is puzzling.

[TruePoint]

I’m not assuming that, but I’m not ruling it out, either. Obviously any talk about making a run in the tournament assumes that URI plays its best basketball of the season. Based on the last week, that would require turning things around a bit, but that isn’t unheard of in sports. In no way am I suggesting it is a sure thing, though.

[reef]

Hey what are the chances we get seeded in Charlotte???

I got a buddy that lives there so I may be able to attend

[RF1]

Was watching college basketball today on CBS (Big Ten Tournament and post game) and they had a commercial preview for the CBS Selection Sunday show. It was full of tournament scenes. In it was none other than our own Will Leviton celebrating on the sidelines in the 2017 Tourney.

[section(105)]

Was watching college basketball today on CBS (Big Ten Tournament and post game) and they had a commercial preview for the CBS Selection Sunday show. It was full of tournament scenes. In it was none other than our own Will Leviton celebrating on the sidelines in the 2017 Tourney.

........and one, during the game, I think with a JT Dunk......dark blue unis.

[adam914]

I don’t know how we can talk about beating Villanova and all these teams when we just lost at home by 30 to a below average St Joes team.

Villanova lost at home to St. John's who finished 4-14 in conference and second to last in the Big East. St. Joe's finished 10-8 and in 4th place. So I guess by your logic Villanova fans should not expect their team to get out of the 1st round.

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

I don’t know how we can talk about beating Villanova and all these teams when we just lost at home by 30 to a below average St Joes team.

Villanova lost at home to St. John's who finished 4-14 in conference and second to last in the Big East. St. Joe's finished 10-8 and in 4th place. So I guess by your logic Villanova fans should not expect their team to get out of the 1st round.

His point is that it's hard to reconcile and rationalize the thought of URI beating a team as good as Villanova on a neutral court when URI lost on their own home court to a team as below average as St. Joe's by a whopping 30 points.

Nova lost by only 4 to St. John's...same St. John's, who beat Duke, Nebraska, and St. Joe's themselves.
Nova beat St. Joe's by 41 points earlier in the year.

He's looking at results (aka data) and forming an opinion.

[adam914]

I don’t know how we can talk about beating Villanova and all these teams when we just lost at home by 30 to a below average St Joes team.

Villanova lost at home to St. John's who finished 4-14 in conference and second to last in the Big East. St. Joe's finished 10-8 and in 4th place. So I guess by your logic Villanova fans should not expect their team to get out of the 1st round.

His point is that it's hard to reconcile and rationalize the thought of URI beating a team as good as Villanova on a neutral court when URI lost on their own home court to a team as below average as St. Joe's by a whopping 30 points.

Nova lost by only 4 to St. John's...same St. John's, who beat Duke, Nebraska, and St. Joe's themselves.
Nova beat St. Joe's by 41 points earlier in the year.

He's looking at results (aka data) and forming an opinion.

And I'm saying that looking at the data from one game and basing your entire opinion on that is probably not wise.

[rambone 78]

I think we've beaten this horse long after it's dead....

I'm just going to hope we play better and can close out games starting Friday.

After all, that's all we can do, right?

I think this team needs some adversity to play it's best. They don't seem to be able to handle prosperity very well.

[Rhode_Island_Red]

If teams keep playing zone against us, and we keep relying on circus shots and poorly-selected threes, our losing streak is going to get two games longer.

[TulaneGradRamFan]

Joe Lunardi on the ESPN website has URI as a 7 seed playing against Florida State, a 10 in the Midwest.

[Paleoguy]

In Monday's edition of GoLocal Providence, Jerry Palm and Joe Lunardi weighed in on URI and PC. Here's what was said regarding Rhody:

The Rams finished the regular season as the A-10 regular season champions and ranked 17th in the country. They have an overall record of 23-6 and 15-3 in the conference.

However, they have lost three of their last five games including a loss on the road to Davidson and a home loss to St. Joseph’s.


Jerry Palm, CBS Sports
“Losing to Davidson on the road isn’t a bad loss, losing to St. Joe’s, there is no excuse for, that’s like, you forgot to show up. I mean that cost them three lines in the bracket. If they take another bad loss they could be in the middle of the bracket,” Palm told GoLocalProv.
URI will open the A-10 Tournament against either eighth-seeded VCU or ninth-seeded Dayton on Friday at noon.

“If they were to lose in the quarterfinal, they could fall to an 8/9 game and then you are in a toss-up game just to play the #1 seed,” Lunardi told GoLocalProv.

Palm adds “If they win the A-10 Tournament, who are they beating? It’s not like they are beating Michigan State,” Palm continued, “they can pretty much only hurt themselves at this point. It’s not like picking up a second win over St. Bonaventure is going to move them from a 7-seed to a 4-seed.”

URI is seeded seventh by both Lunardi and Palm in their latest bracket projections.

Lunardi told GoLocalProv that he thinks Rhode Island can get back to a six-seed at best with an A-10 Tournament win.

[RhowdyRam02]

Only two changes in this morning's bracket for our purposes. Florida Gulf Coast is no longer in with their loss yesterday and Iona is now in a play in game for a 16 seed

https://bracketville.wordpress.com/bracketology/

[ramster]

In Monday's edition of GoLocal Providence, Jerry Palm and Joe Lunardi weighed in on URI and PC. Here's what was said regarding Rhody:

The Rams finished the regular season as the A-10 regular season champions and ranked 17th in the country. They have an overall record of 23-6 and 15-3 in the conference.

However, they have lost three of their last five games including a loss on the road to Davidson and a home loss to St. Joseph’s.


Jerry Palm, CBS Sports
“Losing to Davidson on the road isn’t a bad loss, losing to St. Joe’s, there is no excuse for, that’s like, you forgot to show up. I mean that cost them three lines in the bracket. If they take another bad loss they could be in the middle of the bracket,” Palm told GoLocalProv.
URI will open the A-10 Tournament against either eighth-seeded VCU or ninth-seeded Dayton on Friday at noon.

“If they were to lose in the quarterfinal, they could fall to an 8/9 game and then you are in a toss-up game just to play the #1 seed,” Lunardi told GoLocalProv.

Palm adds “If they win the A-10 Tournament, who are they beating? It’s not like they are beating Michigan State,” Palm continued, “they can pretty much only hurt themselves at this point. It’s not like picking up a second win over St. Bonaventure is going to move them from a 7-seed to a 4-seed.”

URI is seeded seventh by both Lunardi and Palm in their latest bracket projections.

Lunardi told GoLocalProv that he thinks Rhode Island can get back to a six-seed at best with an A-10 Tournament win.

and the nightmarish scenario is there is a very fine line between winning and losing at LaSalle - in which case a loss would put us at having lost 4 of our last 5 games. I was scared to death during that LaSalle game.

[RhowdyRam02]

Looking at our profile, we're 5-4 against teams in the latest bracket. We could lose two of our wins (Charleston and Iona) and one of our losses (Alabama). We have one quadrant two loss (at Davidson) and one quadrant three loss (St. Joe's). Looking at the A10 tournament, our first game is a quadrant three game and our second game would be a quadrant three or four game, so if we don't make the championship game we add a second bad loss to our resume. Our only chance at a good win is if we get St. Bonaventure (quadrant one) or Davidson (quadrant two) in the championship game

[RhowdyRam02]

and the nightmarish scenario is there is a very fine line between winning and losing at LaSalle - in which case a loss would put us at having lost 4 of our last 5 games. I was scared to death during that LaSalle game.

You don't know how changing that game changes things further down the line. Losing that game means you don't clinch against Dayton, so you probably don't sleep walk against St. Joe's. And if we're just changing games for the sake of changing them, what about changing at Davidson or other games that lead to positive outcomes? Why does it always have to be negative?

[Rhodymob05]

Even the best teams win over lesser teams by minuscule margins. Check back at any teams schedule, Vill, Duke, Michigan St. ect. It happens.

[rhodylaw]

The good news is we don’t have any more road games! I’ll take our team on a neutral court any day, refs let us play more in a neutral site and our D can really ramp up. Need to see the fire lit!

[ramster]

and the nightmarish scenario is there is a very fine line between winning and losing at LaSalle - in which case a loss would put us at having lost 4 of our last 5 games. I was scared to death during that LaSalle game.

You don't know how changing that game changes things further down the line. Losing that game means you don't clinch against Dayton, so you probably don't sleep walk against St. Joe's. And if we're just changing games for the sake of changing them, what about changing at Davidson or other games that lead to positive outcomes? Why does it always have to be negative?

First of all RR2, you don't need to lecture me about being negative. I do not post on game threads because I have posted some stupid stuff in the heat of the battle and I refrain from that. Look back on game threads and you will often see things said that people later regret.
2nd of all, if you look back in the worst of February last year, following losses to Fordham, LaSalle I was called numerous times URI's biggest pom pom waver, even got called Jeff Dowtin's uncle, just the exact opposite of being negative, more like most positive. I always thought it was too early to say Hurley had failed to deliver because his 5th year was not over yet -

The fact that some think that it is blasphemy to say something negative at all about the team is getting old to be honest. I can relate to PMMM sometimes.

I can go back to the beginning of the season and show where I had concerns about a 4 guard line up and still do. No Monday morning quarterbacking, I never have liked it, still don't.

But I will be in DC cheering for URI just like I was there when many here boycotted Baron's last season. I was there cheering on Holton, Baron, TJ and company to the very last minute of the season. I'm the last person you need to refer to as "always have to be negative".

I think my point is that some here keep referring to people over reacting to only one game - the St Joe game. My view is that there is a disturbing trend over a number of games, not only one. I could even go back more than 5 games. The shooting percentages have been lower, steals lower, energy lower...............

We were favored by 8 points at LaSalle and we could not stop BJ Johnson. Could not stop him. He killed us in rebounding. That game had a bad feel to it. Dayton we were heavily favored at home by 11 so we should easily win that one.

I loved last year's team. I loved the domination that Iverson and Martin brought down low in rebounding, offense and shot blocking. This year's team is different as we do not dominate in rebounding or in shot blocking. Steals for sure but steals are dropping off.

I hope I am wrong, but I am seeing more than a one game St Joe trend. And while you say we sleep walked, I did not see it that way. I saw us get heavily outplayed in all facets of the game. I think it went beyond just sleepwalking.

[rjsuperfly66]

and the nightmarish scenario is there is a very fine line between winning and losing at LaSalle - in which case a loss would put us at having lost 4 of our last 5 games. I was scared to death during that LaSalle game.

You don't know how changing that game changes things further down the line. Losing that game means you don't clinch against Dayton, so you probably don't sleep walk against St. Joe's. And if we're just changing games for the sake of changing them, what about changing at Davidson or other games that lead to positive outcomes? Why does it always have to be negative?

First of all RR2, you don't need to lecture me about being negative. I do not post on game threads because I have posted some stupid stuff in the heat of the battle and I refrain from that. Look back on game threads and you will often see things said that people later regret.
2nd of all, if you look back in the worst of February last year, following losses to Fordham, LaSalle I was called numerous times URI's biggest pom pom waver, even got called Jeff Dowtin's uncle, just the exact opposite of being negative, more like most positive. I always thought it was too early to say Hurley had failed to deliver because his 5th year was not over yet -

The fact that some think that it is blasphemy to say something negative at all about the team is getting old to be honest. I can relate to PMMM sometimes.

I can go back to the beginning of the season and show where I had concerns about a 4 guard line up and still do. No Monday morning quarterbacking, I never have liked it, still don't.

But I will be in DC cheering for URI just like I was there when many here boycotted Baron's last season. I was there cheering on Holton, Baron, TJ and company to the very last minute of the season. I'm the last person you need to refer to as "always have to be negative".

I think my point is that some here keep referring to people over reacting to only one game - the St Joe game. My view is that there is a disturbing trend over a number of games, not only one. I could even go back more than 5 games. The shooting percentages have been lower, steals lower, energy lower...............

We were favored by 8 points at LaSalle and we could not stop BJ Johnson. Could not stop him. He killed us in rebounding. That game had a bad feel to it. Dayton we were heavily favored at home by 11 so we should easily win that one.

I loved last year's team. I loved the domination that Iverson and Martin brought down low in rebounding, offense and shot blocking. This year's team is different as we do not dominate in rebounding or in shot blocking. Steals for sure but steals are dropping off.

I hope I am wrong, but I am seeing more than a one game St Joe trend. And while you say we sleep walked, I did not see it that way. I saw us get heavily outplayed in all facets of the game. I think it went beyond just sleepwalking.

Potentially but I will issue one caveat -- When you hit conference play, styles are pretty well-known. Guys like EC and Terrell have been scouted for almost half a decade. Team style offensively and defensively is pretty well-known. Even as you are scouting other opponents, you might be watching tape of what URI did to disrupt them. Teams in the A10 as a result might have seen URI play 18-22+ times this season alone. If you hit March, and you get a first round matchup against Team X, how many times do you think they have seen URI play? Even if they start hitting the film room at 6PM sharp on Sunday, how much time do they really have to analyze film before implementing a game plan? 12 hours? 24 hours? And how many games and advanced analysis does that include? 3? 4? And how do you balance out the good games from the bad games? It's definitely a scenario that goes both ways, but ultimately I think it will always come down to the team that plays best on any given day and I think gameplan can still have an impact but smaller than what you are seeing in conference play.

[RF1]

I don't necessarily agree with URI still being ranked given its recent performances. Regardless of the outcomes of games this week, Rhody will be nationally ranked on Selection Sunday. It will be its seventh straight week in the AP rankings. While it has happened on an odd occasion, it is very rare that a team ranked on Selection Sunday does not get and NCAA bid.

[Blue Man]

Unfortunately for the Debbie Downer crowd, this is now the longest URI has EVER been ranked consecutively at 7 weeks.

God it must suck to be miserable all the time and not enjoy how good this feels.

[RF1]

Wow. I guess if one strays from the party line, there is a problem. Seems like some here would have been quite happy being in the former Soviet Union or Nazi Germany where all news was good and dissent squashed.

Some Keaney Blue posters come off as quite insecure and very immature. I thought this forum was open to all perspectives. I guess some don't want it that way.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Seems insecure to think that the pollsters are out to screw us at every turn...or, that they 'must not be paying attention if they don't ditch us when we lose'....

[Rhody15]

Unfortunately for the Debbie Downer crowd, this is now the longest URI has EVER been ranked consecutively at 7 weeks.

God it must suck to be miserable all the time and not enjoy how good this feels.

This may come to a shock to you, but it is ok for some of us feel a little pissed at how we have played this week, getting embarrassed at home by 30 to St Joes and blowing the Davidson game.

Not exactly how we want to be playing heading into March...

[RhodyRam86]

Unfortunately for the Debbie Downer crowd, this is now the longest URI has EVER been ranked consecutively at 7 weeks.

God it must suck to be miserable all the time and not enjoy how good this feels.

This may come to a shock to you, but it is ok for some of us feel a little pissed at how we have played this week, getting embarrassed at home by 30 to St Joes and blowing the Davidson game.

Not exactly how we want to be playing heading into March...

I'm with you here 15. is the season over? nope. are preseason team goals still attainable? yup. but the feeling of optimism that I had watching the team celebrate the regular season conference championship has waned some. it isn't that we lost 2 games in a row. it's how we lost them. with a win on Friday and Saturday, my confidence will grow. Win a conference championship next week and i'll feel great about this team as they go to the dance. I'm still feeling a bit of a hangover from last week. I honestly envy BM and others on the board here who have already turned the page. Good for them! I hope the team has too. It actually makes me feel a little better to see a # before our name in the latest poll By Friday I will be in front of the TV and last week will be an unimportant memory, but for the next couple of days I reserve the right as a passionate fan to be a little miserable.

[Blue Man]

Unfortunately for the Debbie Downer crowd, this is now the longest URI has EVER been ranked consecutively at 7 weeks.

God it must suck to be miserable all the time and not enjoy how good this feels.

This may come to a shock to you, but it is ok for some of us feel a little pissed at how we have played this week, getting embarrassed at home by 30 to St Joes and blowing the Davidson game.

Not exactly how we want to be playing heading into March...

I mean it actually is kind of shocking to me - not being pissed about 2 losses, but the meltdown that all of a sudden we're not the good team we were last Monday because of them. I'm shocked about the fact that most of the negative parties on here after losses are the same ones who championed the Baron 2.0 thread.

Since that was kind of this board's civil rights moment, and all of y'all were on the wrong side of history then, maybe those of us who were on the right side of history thought you'd have learned something by now.

I don't know how many more times we have to see some of you melt down after a bad game or two only to have Dan Hurley's boys shove it down your throat and prove you wrong. Guess I'll grab the popcorn for another installment in the series.

[BleedBlue87]

I like to reiterate this point every so often, there is a spot for URI fans in-between Blue Man's eternal optimism (and his never ending Baron 2.0 talk) and PlayMikeMotenMore's perpetual negativity (only present when the team does bad, otherwise he disappears from the board). It's a place where you can still love your Rhody Rams and celebrate everything they have and will accomplish and at the same time criticize for shortcomings. It's hard to believe, but you can do both!

[Seawrightspostgame]

Pending on how personally close you are to a team usually correlates to how critical you are.

I think the world of guys on certain teams that were awful but had one good night and I knew them.

[RhodyRam86]

BM...you’re going to shove it down our throat? You say this as if we are hoping the pilot crashes the plane we’re on so we can say “haha...we were right”.

Feeling bad about the direction of the team or feeling less optimistic, doesn’t mean anyone here will be pulling for them any less than you.